I Have No Northern Agenda – Says Buhari

Following criticisms that trailed the appointments made so far by President Muhammadu Buhari which many argued were lopsided in favour of the north, the president, yesterday, dismissed insinuations that he was implementing a northern agenda in his appointments.

It will be recalled that President Buhari since taking over the reins of power on May 29 has, so far, made 11 appointments, out of which only one came from the South West.

Although some people considered the appointments to be “unserious positions”, many Nigerians condemned its alleged lopsidedness, saying they were signs of what to expect from the Buhari presidency.

In addition to the appointments, Dr. Bukola Saraki from Kwara State, (North central) and Yakubu Dogara from Bauchi State, (North East) were also elected as Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives respectively.

But speaking to Vanguard in Abuja, yesterday, the Special Adviser to the president on Media and Publicity Mr. Femi Adesina, who is incidentally the only southerner in the appointments, refuted the claims that Buhari was acting a northern script against the rest of the zones in the country.

He said: “The president received a national mandate and was going to pursue it as such. The president does not have a northern agenda. He has a national agenda. He got a national mandate and that is the way he is going to exercise that mandate. I have already said it and I still maintain that”, he said.

Reacting to the criticisms trailing the appointments, national secretary of the Labour Party, Dr. Kayode Ajulo, National President of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima and Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, yesterday, called for caution in the claims of a perceived northernisation policy by the incumbent administration.

Let us give him benefit of doubt — LP scribe

“I want to give President Buhari the benefit of doubt, he still has thousands of appointments to make. We need not hang him on just nine of such appointments,” Ajulo said.

“However, he needs to be sensitive and responsive to our laws, values and attitude as a multi-ethnic people. Everything counts in Nigeria and President Buhari as a politician should know that woe betides any Nigerian politician that treats with levity such issues like tribe, ethnicity, religion etc.”

He added: “President Buhari had, in his inaugural address and subsequent speeches, stressed that the job of rebuilding Nigeria is not his alone. I call him to walk the talk.”